The marketplace for firearms on the Internet, where buyers are not required to undergo background checks, is so vast that advocates for stricter regulations now consider online sales a greater threat than the gun show loophole.
A new study by Third Way, a centrist think tank with close ties to the administration of President Barack Obama, found thousands of guns, including assault weapons, for sale online and that many prospective buyers were shopping on the Internet specifically to avoid background checks.
The study focused on Armslist.com — a popular classified site similar to Craigslist.org that facilitates private sales of firearms and ammunition based on location — and analyzed listings in 10 states in which senators voted against a background checks compromise bill this spring.